"Shields two and four at 10%, Captain. They will not withstand another attack." Mr. Spock looked up from the information streaming in from engineering, his voice level but urgent.
"Sulu, can you get a phaser lock on them yet?"
"No, Captain. Their sonic field is still in effect."
Whoever these guys were, they had technology that rendered them invisible to all scanners and impossible to get a lock on, which was proving problematic, because they could pack a punch and the Enterprise couldn't even fight back. Cowards. Ambushing us like this, we can't even get a hit in.
"They're coming around again." Sulu chimed. He could only see them on his viewing screens, but with all the space debris from the asteroid cloud they had been inspecting, it was hard to tell rock from ship.
"Port thrusters, Mr. Sulu, spin her around. We need those shields to stay up."
"Aye, Capt-"
Sulu was cut off by another impact that shook the ship, tossing the bridge personnel from their seats. The lights on the bridge flickered momentarily, save the regular flash of the code red alert.
"Number two shields are down! There must be another one hiding from us." Sulu reported as he pulled himself back into his seat and began frantically checking his screen for any signs of another ship among the asteroid feild.
"Captain, there has been a hull breech. Lower Engineering decks." Spock reported.
Kirk had hardly gotten back on his feet when the comm chirped from the captain's chair. He groaned and leaned on the arm of the chair heavily before pressing the receiver.
"Engineering to bridge."
"Kirk here."
"It's Scotty. Captain, we need you in engineering on the double."
"Right, on my way. Kirk out." He drew himself up and quickly made his way to the turbo lift, giving Spock the conn as the doors closed.
McCoy was scurrying about like a headless rabbit. Every other minute a crewman would stagger into sickbay with an injury that required his attention. Six concussed, four with minor wounds, two from engineering who had been unfortunately close to an arcing circuit, and three who needed surgical attention. It was always this way when they were under attack, which, Leonard noted, was more often than he liked.
At least I don't have to worry about an outbreak of Cytharian Flu. No away mission, no weird diseases to deal with. he mused while stitching up an ensign's hand. He had only just finished when the door slid open again. Hearing the sound, Leonard looked up expecting another concussion or a sprain, but instead saw Jim being carried in by a very distressed Lieutenant. He was there in an instant, giving him a quick once over with his tricorder and calling a nurse to help him get Jim to a biobed while the Lieutenant started rambling off what happened. McCoy nodded distractedly as the Lieutenant relayed the events and looked over his tricorder results. He swore at Jim under his breath before thanking the Lieutenant and dismissing him.
Leonard hadn't drifted far when he heard Jim groan. Momentarily forgetting the sprain he was attending to, he rushed over to the Captain. Jim was just regaining consciousness and blinking heavy lids open so hazel eyes could get their bearings. He was groggy and terribly disoriented, and McCoy wanted to keep him that way.
"Bones?" Kirk smiled when his eyes landed on blue eyes staring down at him with concern. "Wait... where..?" He started to prop himself up on his elbows to get a look around, but a firm hand on his shoulder led him back down to his pillow. He didn't argue.
"I'm here, darlin'. You're in sickbay. Some poor Lieutenant found you passed out on your way to engineering." Leonard couldn't help the softness in his tone, despite how much he wanted to yell at the idiot of a captain.
Jim blinked a few times and looked around again, trying to clear his tiredness and regain some focus. "Engineering..." he muttered, He'd had to do something in engineering. Suddenly the room shook and Jim remembered the matter at hand. "Right! Scotty called me to engineering, said it was urgent." Jim sat up suddenly, catching McCoy off guard entirely, and then nearly toppled the seated doctor when he swung his legs over the edge of the biobed.
"Woah, Jim, where do you think you're going?" Leonard quickly blocked the path of the remarkably energetic captain.
"Engineering, didn't you hear?" Jim bobbed around the obstacle and began making his way to the door. He scowled and stopped again when the roadblock returned. "Bones, what are you doing?"
"My job. Now go back and lie down. You need to rest, Jim." He easily spun the man around and began pushing him in the direction of the bed, but was stopped short when his patient turned right back around to face him.
"I can't just lie around right now, we're under attack and I need to be up there." Jim looked him right in the face, his eyes pleading with his Bones to let him go.
"You left the conn to Spock, didn't you?" Bones raised an eyebrow, once more attempting to move his friend back to the biobed, but this time Kirk didn't budge.
"Yes, bu-"
"Then what are ya so jumpy about?" Leonard interrupted. "If Spock's in command then we can expect a very logical course of action on his part. Come on, you need to rest." He smiled warmly through his words despite his annoyance in an attempt to disperse an argument before it started.
He placed a hand on Jim's arm to guide him back to bed, but Jim roughly shook Leonard's hand off and met his gaze directly. "Bones it's my responsibility as captain to watch out for the safety of this ship and her crew! I can't do that from here! And I'm sure as hell not going to just "rest" while my crew are working around the clock."
Leonard stepped closer, issuing a challenge of his own. "Oh yes you are. You are until I deem you fit for duty, which you in no way are."
"How am I not fit for duty? I feel fine! I'm on my feet! I'm not experiencing any pain! I'm fine. I feel fine. I need to go." He began to step around the doctor, decidedly done with this conversation.
Stubborn idiot. McCoy blocked his path once more, just fine with any bruises he would gain from his best friend if it meant the idiot wouldn't run himself into the ground. "You are not fine! Your blood sugar is worryingly low, you're horribly dehydrated, and you look like you're about ready to keel over! You feel fine? Tell me, Jim, how's the dizziness?" He was tired of playing around. He wanted his friend to get the point so he could get back to work. His eyes darted briefly to a girl who wandered in with blood running down her arm, his instinct to help her flaring up before nurse Chapel quickly led the girl to a chair to get patched up.
Jim glared at him murderously, but he continued. " Wanna know why you're here? All that running didn't have any fuel to pull from and you collapsed in the middle of a crisis. How does that help your crew? You'd think a captain of a star ship would know how to take care of himself! But no, it turns out if his doctor doesn't babysit him he forgets what food and a bed is!" He was fuming now, shouting loud enough for the whole of sickbay to hear. Jim opened his mouth to speak, but Leonard wasn't done yet. "I'm not your mother! Never have been, though since we met I seem to have been forced into the job, haven't I? Every time you had an exam coming up I practically had to force feed you because you would "forget" or were "too busy" to put a burger in your face. I seriously don't know how you survived at all before I came around! Now think about your own damn well being for once in your life and rest!" Bones shouted in his face, pointing angrily back to the bed as the room shook from another attack. A little voice in the back of his mind berated him for shouting at a superior officer, but he really didn't care at the moment.
Jim had the decency to look shocked, at least. After a moment, he lowered his head and nodded in surrender. Bones let out a soft sigh of relief, glad his friend was going to start cooperating. So he was more than a little surprised when a fist crashed into his cheekbone.
"Except you see, Bones, I'm still Captain." Kirk stood over his friend as he shook out his hand, noting the knuckles would probably bruise within the hour. He would have to apologise to Leonard later as well, but he was almost certain he had felt the ship take another hit, and he was done being detained.
McCoy stayed crouched as Jim walked past to the door, his head swimming from being jostled. He looked up to see Jim walking to the door. "Dammit, Jim." He pulled his hypo loaded with sedative out of its pouch on his waist and pulled himself after the idiot, plunging it into his neck the moment he was close enough and catching him on the way down. Why hadn't I done that sooner?
"Nurse!" He called over his shoulder, handing off half of the weight to nurse Chapel when she approached. "Let's get him back to his bed. Keep him sedated and give him a nutrition supplement drip. I don't want him coming back up until everything's normal, you got it?" Nurse Chapel nodded and began to carry out his instructions while Leonard resumed caring for the rest of the patients.